About

Once a loyal Etsy customer, I have put down my crochet needles to share some Etsy secrets. I am just a little gray-haired lady living by the golden rule of “Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You.” Normally mild-mannered and easy-going, with a “live and let live” attitude, my feathers can and do get ruffled when I witness abuse. And that is what this blog is all about. Exposing and calling into accountability a company that, in my opinion, abuses those it claims to value; abuses those whose livelihood is dependent on it; abuses those who, in good faith, use its’ services. It is what I call the “Etsy Ruse.”

Secrets can be kept anywhere – in a drawer, on a shelf, in a mind – but I’ll let you in on where Etsy keeps many of its’ secrets….. under the Etsy rug. My guess is that all employees, upon accepting employment with Etsy, are given a personalized, handmade Swiffer broom, with instructions on how to use it. When distasteful information starts floating around like so many unwanted dust bunnies, the boss yells “SWEEP,” and out come 452 brooms.

Here at Rusetsy, we like to periodically pull out Etsy’s handmade Shaw rug and give it a good shaking, beat the dust out of it, and clean the floor underneath.

So come on in. But remember, it’s always a mess around here!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” ~Margaret Mead

Want to know more about my Etsy experience? For insight, read this post about one Etsy seller.

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10 thoughts on “About”

Let me be the first to congratulate you on Rusetsy … I can see we’re going to be privy to a lot of interesting secrets. I’ll be waiting here to peek under that rug. It’s time to open the Pandora/Etsy box and see what’s really hiding there.

First, I don’t give two hoots about trying to change the way Etsy does things, and am not foolish enough to believe that us little people have much power (other than the power of a collective voice) when it comes to butting heads with the billionaire corporations of the world. But I do believe when I see a big corporation trampling the little guy in pursuit of monetary gain, it is my social responsibility to speak out – if for no other reason than to give unsuspecting buyers and sellers better insight into the company they are doing business with, or proposing doing business with.

I too am a firm believer in accepting the things I cannot change; however, to me, this blog is not about effecting change. It is about speaking out on what is, in my opinion, morally egregious behavior by a company who prides itself on providing a platform for the little guy while stabbing him in the back, and further prides itself on doing so with (bogus) “transparency.”

With reference to your comment “.. there are many things in life that are not fair, and many injustices being perpetrated on an unsuspecting public. In my mind, Etsy is not one of them,” To each his own, but for me, I could not in clear conscience put another nickel in the Etsy pocket. To do so would mean accepting, and personally contributing to, Etsy’s dishonest business practices and reprehensible treatment of its’ customers.

Certainly not what I want for myself or what I want my business associated with.

I am mainly a seller of antiques and vintage collectibles, and part of our business is informing the buying public about deceptive selling practices, how to avoid being taken in by fake merchandise. I have never felt a need to try to shame Etsy into reforming its business practices. But I think blogs and forums that get the word out to the buying public that Etsy is just a marketplace — like Ebay or your local flea market — are worthwhile. It can’t hurt to remind people to keep their thinking caps on while shopping on Etsy, and not be snowed under by the shallow chatty nicey-nicey vibe being forced into the Forums or the bubbly puff pieces in the Etsy blog articles. I used to send in call outs of fauxtiques and vintage resellers (as in new manufactured “vintage”) to Garagetsy and Callin’ Out on Etsy blogs.

As a former Etsy seller, and indef muted member of the Etsy community, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your entire blog to date in the past 24 hours. Good stuff!

I went back and read my original comments from a few brief weeks ago. Let me just say that since attending the RUSEtsy School of Technology, my feelings about Etsy have changed dramatically. In fact, I just did a complete 180. A little knowledge sure is a dangerous thing in the wrong hands. Keep up the good work.